Above: Cook County High School fielded two teams at the regional Knowledge Bowl tournament on March 20. Team No. 1 captured the first place trophy and the two CCHS teams received special recognition for good sportsmanship. Pictured with the good sportsmanship award are (L-R, front) Will Seaton and Joey Chmelik. (L-R, back) Libby Zafft, Mara MacDonell, Sarah Larsen, Sean MacDonell, Ben Seaton, Sterling Anderson and Brenna Hay. Left: CCHS Team No. 1 celebrates its first place finish at the regional Knowledge Bowl tournament. The team is headed to the State Meet April 11 – 12, 2013. (L-R, front) Mara MacDonell, Sarah Larsen, Ben Seaton, Will Seaton. (Back) Sean MacDonell.
Twenty-three Knowledge Bowl teams from across the Northland gathered at Mountain Iron on March 20, all hoping that they had gained enough knowledge to advance to the state Knowledge Bowl competition. At the end of the day, the Cook County No. 1 team was on top of the score chart and headed to the State Meet.
Back home at Cook County High School, Knowledge Bowl Coach April Wahlstrom said, “We had a very exciting day! Our team number one set a bar high at the beginning and moved to first place. They held their spot the entire day.
“They beat International Falls by 13.5 points and they beat Marshall by 27 points,” said Wahlstrom, proud that the Cook County team defeated those powerhouse schools.
Cook County Team No. 1 is Mara MacDonell, Sean MacDonell, Sarah Larsen, Ben Seaton and Will Seaton.
Cook County Team No. 2 was Sterling Anderson, Joey Chmelik, Libby Zafft, and Brenna Hay. That team also did well, placing 15th, especially considering some JV Knowledge Bowlers stepped up to the varsity competition.
Wahlstrom said, “Earlier in the season we debated about trying to get two teams to state or stacking one team in an attempt to do really well at state. We opted for the second option.”
The strategy worked, reports Coach Wahlstrom, “We are taking our top kids to represent us at state in Brainerd on April 11 and 12. Last year our Knowledge Bowlers finished 12th place and they are hoping to place much higher now that they have experience. This has been an exciting season with a first place season each meet!”
The team members not only showed their academic skills at the regional tournament, they claimed the Sportsmanship Award.
Wahlstrom said, “These students are very talented but they are good natured. This is the second year in a row that our students have been given the honor of earning this award for their positive behavior.”
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